Reflection on filming skills

 Hey guys, now that my group is wrapping it up on our movie opener, I want to reflect on my overall skills in different aspects of filming for it.

First, I would say my skills in using a film/video camera are “ready to move on.” In other words, I would say my camera skills are fairly well and this was shown when I was able to help Jahzara record better during the beach scene. Originally, Jahzara had difficulties framing us correctly within the camera in the beach scene. I was able to help correct her and show her how to frame us better.

 For reference, I helped film this shot in our beach scene:

Next, as for recording and mixing sound as appropriate to production, I would say my skills there are almost there, but I could use some improvement. Recording sounds was not difficult, as we mainly used the sounds of the natural environment, such as the sounds of the waves and winds. However, for mixing sound, I could definitely use some work, as I do not know how to correctly blend audio across clips so that it cuts across smoothly and not abruptly. Luckily, my group members, Jahzara and Emijola, were able to help during the editing process, and so they did the sound mixing.

Next, as for the use of lighting for effect, I would say it is almost there and fairly well, but could also make some improvements. I say this because once again, we mainly used the natural environment for our set. Like in the beach scene, we simply used the natural lighting of the sun. However, I believe this decision of mine to use the beach and its natural lighting was a good choice because it helped make our scene cinematic and high movie quality like. Similarly, in the flashback scene, that was when my skills in the use of lighting truly showed. In that scene, it included a montage with jump cuts. During this scene, I changed the lighting to become dimmer as the montage proceeds to visually show time passing. However, I fully believe I can improve this skill because I noticed after recording that during our school scene, the lighting was not that great. The quality of the lighting made the film clearly look low-budget. I did not place careful consideration of how that scene was going to look on camera. As a result, the school scene looks very low quality compared to the other two scenes.

Lastly, as for editing the film opener and cohesively ensuring that the meaning is clear to the audience, this is almost there, but could use some work. For the editing process, me and Ngoc originally did a test run by simply putting the clips together and seeing what it would look like. We wanted to get an idea of what the final product would look like. However, when we put it together, it looked choppy and not that great. As a result, the editing process was left for Emijola and Jahzara to do, whereas me and Ngoc helped give them ideas on how to edit the film so that it conveyed meaning. In other words, me and Ngoc brainstormed the ideas, but Emijola and Jahzara turned these ideas into actual visuals. In terms of physically editing, I was left with an easier responsibility, which was choosing the font for the text credits on screen. Overall, I believe that in terms of editing, I need major improvements and work on it. I often have the ideas and the concepts I want to portray in my head, but I can never fully execute them.